Time out

Sorry for the long pause in posting. I've been away on another site visit, even further West this time. And, we're off again tomorrow for an adventure in Crimea. Lots of posts to come when we're back in Kyiv next week. Here's to exploration!

The diplomatic pouch rocks my world...

because it brings us these kinds of things....

I'm confused

When we moved into our place, they left us a packet of user's guides and owner's manuals for the appliances. It wasn't a complete set by any means and it took me a few weeks of navigating the work-order process to have a maintenance person come out to tell us to leave our water filter on at all times so it would refill. Over the past few months, we've pretty much figured out all the gadgets, but this one still confuses me. We have about four of these in our entry way, affixed to the wall about six inches from the floor. There's a button that can be pushed in and a light that is either green, red, or off. Also, it's got a knob that moves from 0 to 6. I haven't played with them much and haven't been able to figure out what they do. My best guess is floor heaters; Tom thinks light timers. I'm experimenting to see if I can figure it out.

Clostraphobics beware!

Elevator rides here aren't smooth by any means, and judging the contraptions by their look can make any adventure-seeker a little weary. The elevator at work makes a jerky clunk at every floor at which it stops. It's generally out of order and one day, a colleauge of mine was stuck in it for 30 minutes. Scary. Here's a typical elevator in Kyiv. It's a cozy ride -- maybe 3 folks could fit in here. Yikes.

Babushka art!

Epi Center

We found a Ukranian Home Depot!

They had these non-escalators there; they moved you between levels, but had no stairs. They were like the people-movers at the airport, but on a slant. They have carts designed not to move while on the platform. Amazing!

The staircase of death!

I heard about this way home from a co-worker. It took me a long while to figure out exactly where it was. It's a rickety, old, wooden staircase that goes from the top of a eerily new, yet abandoned street in the lower part of town to the top of the crafty/touristy street, not far from St. Sophia's Cathedral and our house. When I was brave and took it before, it was around 8pm. I didn't meet anyone else and (maybe, just maybe) kept looking over my shoulder to make sure I wasn't being followed, or some creeper wasn't mouth breathing at me from the woods. Today, though, I headed up the hill earlier on and found a plenitude of compatriots on the stairs, all drinking in the late afternoon and enjoying the sunshine. Some of them even had dreadlocks. Some of them looked as if they were on their first date and others looked like they were school friends. I swear I overheard the name Robert Frost muttered in heated debate as I walked by.

Cat on a hot tin roof and other sightings of Kyiv life

This threw me for a loop on the way home, but turns out it's a decorative art piece.

Happy Easter!

We get to celebrate Easter twice. We hosted a brunch this last weekend to celebrate Easter as we know it in the US. This coming weekend, Ukraine celebrates Orthodox Easter (which means I have a three-day weekend). We received a wonderful set of dyed Easter eggs yesterday and I think I might make Tom go on an Easter egg hunt this Saturday.

American heartburn -- it's the best!

For some reason, I'm suffering from heartburn today. Tom and I had Johnsonville brats from the commissary this afternoon, and they were delicious. So what if they gave me heartburn?! (By the way, I feel really old now that I suffer from this occasionally.)

Before I left for Kyiv, I went to a lot of dinners with people and they always said the same thing, "You pick; you're leaving. What will you miss when you're in Ukraine? Let's go there for dinner." It's nice to have such considerate friends. I wish that I could have appreciated those meals then like I would today, but it's hard to do. You never really seem to be able to appreciate something until you haven't had it for awhile. Don't get me wrong, Ukrainian food is delicious. It's just different and sometimes it's nice to not have different. Sometimes it's nice to have Johnsonville brats.

I do recognize that we are very lucky here. There are pizza places; there are sushi places; there are even steak places (if you want to pay $100+ for a mediocre piece of cow) here in Kyiv. Lots of other USAID posts wouldn't have such a variety. Some don't even have commissaries (where you can get a Dr. Pepper, taco shells, Doritos, and Betty Crocker cake mixes)! We'll enjoy it while we're here, but we'll also enjoy all of those US eateries whenever we get the chance to be back state-side.

Planet Sushi is hysterical!

We ordered edamame tonight at Sushi Planet. I was excited because it's the first time I've seen it on a menu here. Our waitress tried to tell us the beans they had were different -- not "normal" edamame. I thought, what the heck? I ordered two bowls, one for me and one for Tom. When she brought them out, we couldn't believe it. Steamed green beans. Emperor Hirohito is rolling in his grave.

Girl Scouts!!!

I'm helping to lead a Girl Scout troop here in Kyiv. One of the dads gave me this hat to help me MHAN the leadership. We decorated GOOD EGGS tonight and then we filled out adoption certificates, which tied into all the wonderful things in the Girl Scout Law. It's fun leading an international troop. Woo hoo!

Another pretty church

Kyiv is loaded with pretty places of worship. This one is a relatively new church located in between my office and a square in the heart of Podil. I'm not sure it's functioning as I've never seen the doors open, or anyone coming in or out, but it makes me happy when I walk by it.

US Embassy in Kyiv

People left flowers on this sign after Whitney Houston died.

Kyiv's opera house

We haven't gone to an opera yet, but we did go to the ballet. We saw Swan Lake. It was really nice and very affordable. One of the most striking things about our evening was what seemed like a really large number of young kids (the 6 - 10 yr. old types) who were really well behaved sitting through three acts of classic ballet. Bravo Ukraine, bravo!

Street signs, or advertisments?